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Don't Legislate What You Can't Understand
June 9, 2006
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"The thought of Congress legislating without understanding this issue scares me."
-- David Farber, former technology chief of the FCC"It's not Hollywood versus Technology, it's the Incumbents versus the Innovators."
-- Hank Barry at the Digital Rights SummitI've written a lot in the newsletter about why I believe trying to legislate technology to prevent any possible misuse is really not such a good idea.
First off, in reality it's impossible to legislate technology already developed because once it has been developed, no one really can ever put it "back in the box." Nope. That box has been open far too long and no matter how hard our best paid-by-lobbyist politicians try, they'll just try again to pass legislation that will be fiercely contested by groups on both sides of the issues at hand, and in the end, will end up meaningless.
This week, The U.S. House of Representatives (I know they really don't represent us out here anymore, but that's what this legislative body is still called until the walls come tumblin' down), approved a digital copyright bill that some critics are already complaining about and they say it could "imperil home-use of music and video recording devices like TiVo." ( See story below 'House Panel OKs Digital Licensing Bill' )
In reality of course the public will no longer ask the question what constitutes "fair use," they'll just seek more circumvention around whatever temporary (fire)walls are put in their way. But it's important for you to read what these folks down in the Capitol are doing if you still have any doubts about them knowing what they hell they are doing passing bills that they simply cannot enforce. (Although after the recent failure to pass enforcement of existing illegal immigration laws, I have no idea why any of us would have any doubts).
While this was going on down inside "the beltway in D.C.," techno things were changing at light speed again this week in so many other ways that those politicians are going to have a dandy time catching up on all the new developments.
The stories below this week are filled with some really good news: EMI is going to make its catalog available on a P2P network for free (yes, there's "a hitch" ... read it!); a new CD website site, Lala.com, can dramatically change industry economics by giving back more to artists and cutting out middlemen; 3-D monitors are fast becoming a reality; Apple unveiled yet another new iPod; new acts are utilizing mobile phone technology to expand their fan base.
The BIG news of the week? A new study says the Internet is now the #1 media of choice. I can already hear the papers being shuffled on hundreds of desks inside the Capitol. Now they'll have even more to try and legislate.
Things change folks. Mostly for the better when it comes to technology. But you wouldn't know it if you worked in Washington, D.C.
EMI Signs On With New Ad-Supported P2P Music Service
EMI Group said Monday that it would make its music catalog available to the first advertising supported peer-to-peer service as the entertainment industry embraces the same technology that once nearly crippled it.
The new service--called Qtrax, developed by New York-based LTDnetwork and slated for launch later this year--will give consumers the ability to download music for free after watching ads, or the option of paying for a premium subscription version.
Financial terms of the deal with London-based EMI, home to Coldplay and Robbie Williams, were not disclosed, though EMI, which is the first of the music majors to sign up, will share in both the advertising and song sales revenue.
Peer-to-peer services, which let users download music, films and TV programs not from a central server but from other users who have the desired files, stunned record companies in 1998 as teenagers started building massive music collections by swapping songs for free online with services such as Napster and Grokster, rather than paying for CDs.
Read more about it by clicking here.
New CD Swap Site To Give Back To Artists
A new Web site that aims to transform music industry economics is set to go live on Thursday, giving musicians a major cut of the proceeds while largely freezing out record labels and other intermediaries.
Lala.com, which allows fans to trade music discs for just $1, plus shipping, pledges to give a fifth of its sales to all the musicians, including lesser known session studio players, involved in the making of CDs exchanged on its site.
In a move that is certain to stoke controversy with music promoters, the founder of Silicon Valley start-up said Lala will circumvent traditional copyright and royalty payment systems to compensate identifiable working musicians. The site works something like an eBay auction exchange as it encourages consumers who sign up for the service to list all the CDs they may want to exchange as well as ones they would be interested in receiving.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Study: Web Is The No. 1 Media
Web media is the dominant at-work media and No. 2 in the home, according to a new report from the Online Publishers Association.
A research project, conducted by Ball State University's Center for Media Design, tracked the media use of 350 people every 15 seconds. The subjects represented each gender, about equally, across three age groups: 18 to 34, 35 to 49 and 50-plus. The people were monitored by another person for approximately 13 hours, or 80 percent of their waking day.
Read more about it by clicking here.
A Positive Plan for HD Radio
Any quick look at the surfeit of blogs commenting on radio reveals endless carping about HD Radio. There seems to be no end of critics who are saying it will never work for any number of reasons.
As multicast stations start to roll out at a rapid clip, some stations have done a more than creditable job of telling listeners about their HD2 stations and providing a reason to listen. There are three problems, however, with most of these stations.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Navigating Digital-Music Pricing Wars
The major labels put aside their fight with Apple Computer over the pricing of digital music when they all signed new one-year licensing deals for the iTunes Music Store in April. But the industry debate over what a song should cost is anything but over.
Even as 99 cents remains the most common price tag for tunes, efforts are afoot in the mobile music business and in other parts of the PC-based downloading market to test the limits of the iTunes-favored buck-a-track formula.
Read more about it by clicking here.
New Acts Building Fan Base Try To Phone It In
Hello, your career is calling.In these fiscally conservative times, acts must often prove their ability to generate a viable fan base before record labels will even consider adding them to their rosters. To that end, several nascent acts are turning to the mobile phone--traditionally a platform reserved for marketing established acts--to launch their music careers.
Take the G.R.i.T Boys, a hip-hop group developed and promoted by superstar Paul Wall. Looking to rise above the crowded music scene of their native Houston, the Boys agreed to be the subject of a reality series called "NEXXT," filmed exclusively for distribution over mobile phones.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Apple Debuts New U2 iPod
Apple Computer on Tuesday released a new version of its U2 Special Edition iPod music player, with a 30GB storage capacity and 14-hour battery life for $329.
Like the first version, the black and stainless steel iPod has a red navigation wheel and is engraved on the back with the signatures of U2's four band members. The new model holds up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos or up to 75 hours of video, Apple said.
Read more about it by clicking here.
Forget The Glasses--3D Monitors Ready Now
Several display companies are concocting, and in some cases already selling, monitors and other components that provide a simulated 3D viewing experience. Many of these new products don't require glasses.
Stand in front of a Philips 3D monitor, and animated characters throw rose petals or dice at you; the first time you see it, you startle and jolt upward slightly. A film trailer shown on the monitors seems to have more depth than a standard 2D movie.
Read more about it by clicking here.
CBS Adds TV Shows To iTunes
CBS and Apple Computer announced Thursday that certain CBS programs are now available for download on iTunes. "Survivor," the three major "CSI" programs, "NCSI" and "Numb3rs" are now available for download and cost $1.99 for each episode. The release includes the 2005-2006 season for each show. More shows and episodes are planned for release once the new television season begins, according to a CBS statement. Each new episode will be made available for download the day after it has aired on network television.
Read more about it by clicking here.
House Panel OKs Digital Licensing Bill
A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Thursday approved a digital copyright bill that critics say could imperil home-use copying of music and video recording devices like TiVo.
The Section 115 Reform Act, or SIRA, introduced by Texas Republican Lamar Smith attempts to overhaul a piece of copyright law that established a complex system of "mechanical royalties" for record companies, recording artists, songwriters and publishers in exchange for the right to reproduce and distribute their music.
There's a general consensus among politicians, the U.S. Copyright Office and the music industry that the law, first written in the era of piano music rolls is in need of updates for a digital era. Right now, companies wishing to sell music have to negotiate separate licenses for each song's recording.
Read more about it by clicking here.
THE STONES ROLLING AGAIN
The Rolling Stones announcing on their Website that Keith Richards has made a full recovery from his head injury and that their Bigger Bang tour will now commence July 11 in Milan. We assume "full recovery" means crazy ol' Keith will be as crazy as ever.
NO FUEL FOR HIS FIRE
American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry turning down an offer from Fuel to become the band's vocalist. "I'm going to be doing my own thing," he told the Charlotte Observer.
SAD BUT TRUE
Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" becoming the most played song in pop radio history as of last week, when it was played 9,657 times, beating the previous record of 9,582 set last year by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl." Yes folks, it's official. Not only has Elvis left the building, but so have many other REAL artists.
MCPHEE INKED
American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee has signed with Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings Limited and RCA, in conjunction with BMG U.S. and RCA Chairman Clive Davis.
PASSING
Billy Preston, writer of the Joe Cocker classic "You Are So Beautiful" and the only musician to play with both the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, died Tuesday of causes related to kidney failure. He was 59.
EVEN THOUGH ALMOST ALL BABIES LOOK ALIKE
People magazine and Hello! Each paying upwards of $4 million to publish the first pictures of Shiloh Nouvel
Jolie-Pitt in upcoming issues.
JAGGED LITTLE BREAK-UP?
Alanis Morrissette and fiancé Ryan Reynolds parting ways.
DIXIE CHICKS TOUGH TIME SELLING TIX
Though the Dixie Chicks' 'Taking The
Long Way' has topped the charts for the last two weeks, tickets for their upcoming tour have been not selling well in many locations.
WELL, OKAY THE LAST TOUR REALLY WASN'T HER LAST TOUR EVEN THOUGH SHE SWORE IT WAS
Singer Barbra Streisand announced her first U.S. tour in over a decade on Thursday, saying that she planned to play 20 concerts in October and November to raise money for charitable causes." The increasingly urgent need for private citizen support to combat dangerous climate change, along with education and health issues was the prime reason I decided to tour again," Streisand said in a statement announcing the tour.
COMING SOON!
- Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped (6/13)
- The Replacements, Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? The Best Of (6/13)
- Live, Songs from Black Mountain (6/13)
- Nelly Furtado, Loose (6/20)
- Keane, Under the Iron Sea (6/20)
2006 Industry Conferences
Date Name Location P2P Media Summit June 22-23 McLean, VA CMJ October 31 - November 4 New York
Quotes of the week
"Anyone who watches Today knows that I've done more hard-hitting interviews than any evening news anchor."
-- Katie Couric on '60 Minutes.' Really Katie? Gee, I wonder what Walter Cronkite would say about that? If you consider any of your interviews "hard-hitting" then '60 Minutes' is headed in a completely new direction."Excuse me, I fell off of my perch! Sorry to disrupt everyone's plans but now--It's FULL STEAM AHEAD! Ouch!!"
-- Keith Richards on the Rolling Stones website, explaining his recent head injury by falling from a coconut tree."Anna Nicole Smith is pregnant. Who's the lucky grandfather?"
-- Jay Leno"On this day in 1844 the Young Men's Christian Association, the YMCA, was founded. It was founded by a small group of friends; a construction worker, an Indian chief, a cop, a soldier, a cowboy ... they all met at a disco."
-- Jay Leno
NARIP Information
NARIP (The National Association of Record Industry Professionals) promotes career advancement, education and good will among record executives. To find out more about this great organization, how you can join or attend their events, just go to: www.narip.com.
The B-Side - 'Blips'
ON THE PLUS SIDE, AT LEAST THEY WERE HAVING SEX WITH EACH OTHER AND NOT STUDENTS: TAMPA, Fla. -- Two middle school teachers resigned after students reported seeing them having sex in a classroom, according to a school investigation. Frances J. Sepulveda, 30, and Bryant J. Wilburn, 29, turned in their resignations last month after two students at Coleman Middle School in Tampa reported they saw the teachers having sex. The classroom door was locked and a window was covered with paper, but a boy and a girl told school officials they could see inside. Hillsborough County Public Schools released an investigation into the May 22 incident on Wednesday.
"These teachers showed appallingly bad judgment," Hillsborough schools spokesman Steve Hegarty said Wednesday. "We dealt with it quickly, and the teachers are no longer welcome in the Hillsborough County classroom."
A school investigator said both teachers first denied the allegations, but later said they had sex in the classroom during school hours on "one or two occasions." The report said Sepulveda tried to persuade one student not to report them. School officials are sending the results of their investigation to state officials, who will determine if the teachers will be allowed to work in other schools.
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